“He said I was life changing,” Ida bragged to me as she swiped Mark’s card. “He said he’d always been with younger women, but none of them could keep up with him. But me, I do yoga and I work out and I take supplements. When I was done with him, I thought I was going to have to take him to the hospital. You two have a great day in Harrogate!”
We sat in stunned silence as we made our way through what amounted to rush-hour traffic in the small, quaint town.
“We are not going on a double date with my grandfather and that woman,” Mark said after a moment.
“I don’t know. It could be quite an experience.”
“Do you have another crazy outfit you can wear?” he asked, “Because I think you’ll need to wear something loud to keep up.”
* * *
Amy was standingat the entrance to the renovated barn when we walked up from the parking lot on her grandfather’s farm.
“I have the sample arrangements all laid out,” she said happily.
Liz was already inside polishing off a breakfast biscuit. “These are amazing,” she said around the sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit. “I might have to move to Harrogate just so I can eat this every day.”
“I put in a bulk order to be delivered to our condo,” Wes assured her.
“That’s why I love you!” she said, leaning up to kiss him.
“These flowers look amazing,” I told Amy.
She had a sample arrangement on display. The bouquet was colorful, but the flowers were still all in the same color palette. The yellows, blues, pinks, and oranges were all more muted shades, surrounded by trailing honeysuckle and greenery. It looked as if someone had just casually and elegantly fashioned a bouquet from the world’s fanciest garden.
“It looks so pillowy soft,” Liz gushed. “I just want to press my face into the flowers.”
“It also smells amazing,” I said, inhaling the sweet smell of the honeysuckle.
“I know you wanted something a little different for the centerpieces,” Amy said in excitement, “so I added some berries. Let me know if it’s too much.”
The centerpieces had the same muted but colorful flowers, but they were interspersed with blackberry vines baring lush berries and muscadine grapes trailing out of a copper pot.
“These are gorgeous,” Liz breathed.
“They’ll go great with your dress too,” I told her.
“I’m playing up the whole earth mother/goddess theme,” Amy said, “since you have a bun in the oven.”
“I think you should also have little pots of honey out,” Ivy added, gesturing.
The table runner was a lush row of greenery. Interspersed in it, Ivy had laid out the honey, jams, and other little edible things in glass jars that guests could take home with them or use during the dinner or the snacks Elsie would be serving during the dancing to help soak up the alcohol.
As Amy directed us to look at the flowers for the ceremony backdrop, the barn door flew open. A tall, blond-haired man with barely contained irritation on his face was chasing a short, plump woman, who strode across the barn toward Amy’s grandfather.
“Deputy Mayor Loring!” Ernest greeted her.
“Oh shit,” Mark said.
He eyed Mark and spat, “Holbrooks.”
Wes rolled his eyes. “Hey, Hunter.” He waved at the blond man.
“Why are they here?” Hunter demanded.
“They have as much right to be here as you do,” Meg snapped at him.
“They stole my company!”
